BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - A personal trainer is using her passion for fitness to knock out Parkinson’s disease through a push-up challenge.

Melissa Cantrell with On the Geaux Fitness and Rock Steady Boxing in Geismar is organizing Push-ups for Parkinson’s, a push-up challenge to raise money for Moving Day Baton Rouge, which is a national fundraising walk. The fitness challenge is going on in light of Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month in April.

About 60,000 people are diagnosed with the disease every year in the United States, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Melissa Cantrell (center) and her parents, who were both diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. (Source: Melissa Cantrell)

Cantrell has a personal connection to the disease. Her parents were diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and Cantrell recently lost her father to the disease last December.

“About 15 years ago when my dad was diagnosed, we had never heard of (the disease),” Cantrell said. But through the years, she learned more about the disease through some of her fitness clients.

Participates who want to show their support in the “Push-ups for Parkinson’s” can do ten push-ups and donate $10. Then, participants challenge ten of their friends to do the same thing. Every push-up after the minimum ten is $1.

A “Geaux Getters” team has been set up on the Parkinson’s Foundation website. Participants can donate there, or create their own team to receive donations for the foundation.

The deadline to complete the challenge and turn in money is April 30.

The inaugural Baton Rouge Moving Day is scheduled for June 1 at BREC Highland Road Park. To learn more, go to MovingDayBatonRouge.org.

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Push-ups for Parkinson's is a fundraiser event being held in conjunction with Parkinson's disease Awareness month (April). (Source: Melissa Cantrell)